If you walk down the street and ask people what manga is, you will get lots of different answers - Japaneese cartoons, erotic pictures, cool warriors etc. All the answers are correct, manga is the cartoons, the books & the movies but it is also a whole culture and lifestyle! Manga includes movies, comics, food, fashion, layout, art & computer games.
So what
is the difference between manga and anime?
Anime is an animation or cartoon,
while manga is a comic. Anime is often, but not always, based on a popular
manga serie. Manga and anime origins from Japan and have been very popular
there since quite many years. Manga and anime come in a lot of different
categories such as childrensmanga, sportsmanga, actionmanga,
eroticmanga and lots of others.
Manga is most known in Asia,
North America and some parts of Europe. The entertainment business in Sweden
hasn't caught the manga trend yet, but hopefully they will do very soon
(or never *sigh*) Television in Sweden has only showed Sailor Moon and
a few other series.
The word "manga" is loosely translatable as "cartoon" or "caricature", or literally, "involuntary pictures". But note, the word "manga" does not mean "comic or comic books" any more than "karate" (lit. empty hand) means"boxing". Manga was introduced 1814 by the famous artist Katsushika Hokusai. He painted pictures of fighting samurais. Later that had great influence on todays "modern manga" which was introduced in the late 70s and the early 80s when the anime Robotech was released. After that followed a lot of movies where Akira probably is the most known. The latest "success-movie" is Ghost in the Shell (1995).
Manga,
the different styles - Shoujo...
is of course Japaneese and means young
woman or girl. The style is aimed at
a female audience. The comics are often about a young heroine somewhere
around 15 years old. 15 is believed by the Japanese to be the time when
your life reaches a crossroad - one which will determine the road you will
follow for the rest of your life. The stories are also flowery,
delicate, romanticized and very imaginative and exciting. Usually
the heroine has a romantic goal but, that is often just the second theme.
The figures have big soulfull and begging eyes, but don't let them deceive you! Horror, that you usually don't associate with a young beautiful woman, is actually a common element.
Shounen...
means boy
or chap These series are aimed at a young
masculine audience. They are often more realistic than Shoujos, though
the figures sometime are even more disproportionate than the women.
The Japaneeses are weak for "school-sex"
and teenage girls. The manga girls are reproduced of a 50th ideal. Short
skirts and long socks. The Heroines are often wearing tights - if they
are wearing anything at all (!?).
The Japaneses also have a very liberal
attitude to sex. The only thing that isn't allowed is to public show sexual
organs (prohibited in law!). But writers often sneak around these rules
one or the other way, so there are a lot of erotic manga available. Sexual
fantasies are on the other hand recieved with comprehension and tolerans.
The figures in the series usually
lives a common life, they go to school, do
their homework & fight their parents. But beside, the boring, normal
life they are living a sort of ghost-life.
Where they have supernatural skills. They can for example be, robots from
the future or aliens from outerspace. This make us dreaming away to a world
that only exists in our fantasies. It also make us symphatize with the
cute little characters... (^_^)
Manga stories aren't endless, they
do have an end too. The hero/heroine can die, get married, or disappear...
There are three common endings.
Rating system (based on what they use on the videos)